Since this is the last blog of the semester, I guess I’ll do the normal thing & reflect upon my first semester here at Virginia Tech. It has definitely been filled with it ups and downs. I can’t pretend that I’m not excited to be going home in a week. When I lived in Hampton, I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to get out of that place. It was a city with a small town feel. I had been in classes with the same kids since elementary school and I was definitely ready for a change. Sadly, a lot of my friends decided that they wanted to stay close to home & go to schools in the local area such as Old Dominion, Christopher Newport, & Thomas Nelson. They are still doing the same things that they did in high school & can go home at any point on time. But college is a little different for me. I am stuck in Blacksburg unless I plan to go home for like a week in advance.
It has also been a big culture shock. My high school in Hampton was mostly black. There were a good number of white people but it was by far mostly black. It has been such a culture shock for me not to see that many people who look like me in my classes or walking across the Drillfield. It’s not easy being trapped 5 hours away with no one to relate to. So it took some time for me to adjust to this. I have recently started watching BET because I miss black people so much, which I never did at home.
Another big adjustment for me has been making friends. I had my set group of friends in Hampton & I never really had to make new friends. One reason is that because not many people actually move to Hampton. Most people have lived there all their lives & probably will never leave, which is their choice. But I can’t imagine living there until I’m 89, which is why I came to Virginia Tech; I was more than ready to experience new things. But anyways, I never really learned how to be outgoing & make new friends. So coming to Tech with no friends meant that I had to make all new ones so I wasn’t a recluse who stayed in my room all day. I do think this made me pick up valuable social skills that I’ll need later in life. But for right now, it was pretty uncomfortable. A lot of people seemed to come here with friends from high school. I didn’t have that comfort zone to stay in when I first got to Tech so I pretty much just hung out with my hall mates all the time. I still hang out with them a lot because they are amazing people but now I’ve made friends outside of my dorm so school is a lot better.
Now my grades aren’t looking so hot. I am not doing well at all. My goal for this semester has officially become to not be on academic probation. That’s all I can hope for right about now. And it makes me angry when I hear about the things that they’re doing at other colleges! They’re learning about high school stuff & I’m stuck learning about a cells intermolecular membrane, stuff I could care less about. It’s so frustrating that other people are taking classes that they actually like & care about. But not me, at least not until next semester. I just want to save the environment or teach environmental science in high school. I think that may be one reason that I did not do as well as I expected, I am not interested in any of the classes that I’m taking. It’s very hard for me to put my all into something that I don’t care about & know that I will never need in the future. The bigger problem is definitely my study skills & study habits or lack thereof. I have never studied more than a day in advance of the test. So this pretty much screwed me over in most situations. Especially in biology where I didn’t pay attention in class or study that well. I am just hoping to get a D out of that class. It wasn’t so bad in chemistry because I had seen half of the material before so it was easier for me to pick some of that stuff up. I think I can pull a B- out in that class but the more realistic thing is a C+. I knew coming into college that I would definitely not do as well as I had done in high school. I’m not one of those people who sets goals really high so I just expected that I’d do about the average my first semester of college & then gradually get better. I have definitely created a big hole to dig myself out of for the next 3.5 years. So I used my one free pass this semester & all of the rest I really have to put the pedal to the metal. I have set my goal for next semester to become so much more motivated. I can’t have this whatever attitude about school anymore. My parents are paying thousands of dollars to send me to this great school & I would feel horrible if I screwed it up.
All in all this semester was one big learning experience. I learned how much I appreciate my mom & how much she did for me. I never had chores or a curfew so I could pretty much do what I wanted. I also miss how easy high school was. I could do nothing & still get an A. But college is a complete turnaround from this. The most valuable thing that I have learned is that I can either sink or swim in this place & no matter what happens, it is completely my fault. I have no one else to blame.
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